Rail brace



P. T. JONES.

RAIL BRACE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10. 1921.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

$44 ueutoz F'HuL Ti JU PATENT OFFICE.

UNITED STATES PAUL T. JONES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAIL BBACE.

Application filed May 10,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, PAUL T; JONES, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and

State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail Braces, of which the following is a disclosure.

My invention relates to railway track furniture andhas among its objects the provision of means forpreventing the overturning and spreading of rails, which shallbe highly eificient, r,ugged in use,.low in cost, and readily manufactured near the points of use.

The novel features of'iny invention are pointed out with particularity in the appended claim. The invention itself, however, with furtherv objects-and advantages, will best be understood from the following description taken with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is an elevation of a rail brace according-to my invention illustrating it as applied to atrack rail, the rail being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a plan viewof the brace appearing in Fig. 1, the head of the rail being broken away for purposes of illustration.

In the drawing, 1 indicates a tie in a railway track, and 2, a rail resting thereon. On tangent track, the rail is commonly secured to the tie merely by spikes or a tie plate is frequently used between the rail and tie, the plate and rail being spiked to the tie. However, in situations where the rolling stock produces not only a vertical but a lateral stress on the rail, it is often necessary to place a brace against the side of the rails to prevent their overturning or spreading, with consequent derailment. Such braces are also commonly used on bridges and trestles with both track and guard rails.

Rail braces of designs other than mine have developed various defects in use. Owing to their fitting against both the head and the base of the rail, unavoidable wave motion in the rail under heavy rolling stock stresses the spikes of these braces severely in opposite directions, thus producing a maximum loosening effect on the spikes and causing the bracessoon to become less effective than when first applied. These braces, contacting with the rail near its top and bottom, have a large proportion of the Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

1921. Serial No. 468,391.

metal therein outside the line of the resultant force acting on the rail, with consequent low efi'iciency in use of material. Difliculty is also experienced in using the common form of rail braces where tie plates are used owing to thentie plate extending beneath the spike hole of the brace. I find, moreover, that prior rail braces are destroyed by the engine wheels in large numbers in cases of derailment.

Rail braces, according to my invention, consist of two integral plane portions 3 and a and are of heavy rolled metal plate material such as that used for boilers. The portions 3 and 4 are set at a convenient angle so that when portion 3 is flat on the top of tie 1 the portion 4 abuts the rail 2 substantially at the angle 5 between the head 6 of the rail and the web 7. Preferably, the portion 4 is of such length that the plane of this portion lies substantially in the line of the resultant of the forces exerted on the rail by a locomotive rounding a curve. In case of the present standard rail, such as is illustrated in the drawing, this results in an angle of approximately 135 degrees between portions 3 and 4C. In any case, however, the portion 4 should be of such length as to provide clearance between the brace and the spikes 8 or other means used to secure the rail 2. to the tie 1, and is preferably of such length as to provide clearance between the brace anda tie plate In the case of the standardrail, the rail is of sufficient height so that the portion l may be set at the most advantageous angle as regards the resultant of the forces acting on the rail, and also give room between portion 3' and the rail 2 for a tie plate, if one is used.

According to my invention, the portion 3 is spaced from the rail 2 a suiiicient distance so that the spikes 8 or other holding members co-operating therewith are inserted into the tie 1 near the outer end of the tie at a place where the wood is solid, no

my invention tends to minimize derailments, such accidents cannot be altogether prevented and l find that braces according the fact that the entire weight of metal of portion l is substantially in the line of stress, the necessary weight of material be ing obtained by extending the brace in the direction of the rail rather than by increas ing the thickness of the plate from which the braces are made. I prefer to make braces according to my invention of threequarter inch plate and find, when using this material, that the brace does not need to be as wide as the tie in order to be strong enough for all practical purposes, and I find it advantageous that the brace be an inch or more narrower than the tie in order that it may be adjusted laterally of the tie in case the tie may be unsound near one edge, my braces being usually five inches along the rail. i

In operation, a brace according to my invention is subjected to stress in only one direction. When the wheels of rolling stock, force'the rail head downwardly, or downwardly and outwardly, the brace is placed under compression as will be evident from an inspection of the drawing. The brace being entirely free from contact with the base of the rail, there is no opportunity for the rail to produce any tension or bending efi ect on the brace when the rail moves upcurves, braces according to my invention are designed to develop their maximum efiicicncy in sucha use. They are, however, well adapted to and have ample strength for use on bridges, trestles, guard rails, switches and switch points, reinforcing trackto keep old ties in service, patching up after wrecks, or whereverthe grip ofthe rail spikes is insuificient. In all such places my braces are readily applied and afford firm support to the rail.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: I i 1 The combination of a railway rail structure of ordinary type, a wooden tie supportingv said rail structure, a brace composed of two plate portions, one of which lies on top of said tie and the other of which inclines upwardly from said tie and contacts with said rail at the angle between the head of the .rail and the vertical web thereof, and a plurality of single-headed metal fasteners for said brace entering the wood of said tie and spaced in the direction longitudinally of the rail, said brace permitting upward movement of said rail structureunder trafiic without stressing the brace whereby said fasteners are free from stress, except during the downward movement of the rail.

PAUL T. Jonas. I 

